Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1887-03-03

ADVANTAGES OF SOUTHERN MARY
LAND.-A contribution from the pen
of DR.. A. H. Bean, Of st. Inigo's to the
BEACON, Of February 10th, has called
forth the following sensible and vigor-
Gus comments from the Cecil Democrat
"There can be no longer hoodwink-
ing of the inevitable conviction that
the tillers of the soil have got to bet
ter themselves to avoid getting left in
the race for success, if not for livelihood
itself. The prairies of the West may
be blessing to the people generally;
but to the farmer Of the Atlantic coast
the blessing is SO much disguised that
its recognition is very difficult Their
boundless resources as producers OF the
cereals has made the culture of wheat,
corn and oats losing business in these
parts, and farmers will have to find
other means Of boiling the pot, or go
hungry to bed. That the cultivation
Of fruits and vegetables whose perish.
able nature requires them TO be early
consumed, is possible resource, is true.
But, it must be admitted that in some
respects the profitable growth Of these
is thing of the past. Peaches are
certainly not as successful now as
they were generation ago, hereabouts;
and it may be that other esculents will
in as ehort time wear out the soil
that now produces them. In such
emergency, the question is natural.
What shall we turn to? Must the
farmer 90 West, TO risk other soil and
leave his native heath to the bramble2
Or will he rather try other means TO
rebuild the waste places and re fertil-
ize the spots made barren by excessive
erroneous cultivation 1t would seem
less risky and easier to exercise the
faculties, in restoring the home, that
will be necessary in any event to fight
the wilderness Of the West. The diff
fculty with which the farmer has ever
to contend is the exhaustion of the soil
However generous Mother Earth may
be, there is limit to her resources.
The tiler who takes all from the soil
that bounteous life will yield, and
keeps on taking year after year, will
certainly get the last tribute even.
ITALY. Neither does it appear that
any amount of food supply can always
replenish exhausting vitality. 1t is a
marked fact that the generous soil Of
Cecil and its neighbors requires an
ever increasing stimulent to produce
the crops that used to spring from their
own bounty. 1t is equally true and a
familiar fact to the farmer that no
amount of fertilizing will make lands
produce after many years what they
originally revealed in. The peach
crop, for instance, forty years ago
flouriahed hereabouts with all the Wig
or of an indigenous growth. Farmers
grew suddenly rich in the culture OF
the peach. Nowadays the soil that
once seemed to blush in the pride of
its fertility is "sickled over with the
pale cast Of yellows.' " And no rem
edy has been devised or discovered
What shall be done2 Manifestly try
other soil that has not been ravished
by the peach. Appeal to other soils
that may find relief from the wasteless
exhaustion Of the tobocco in fructify.
ing the cereal.-Who may say that the
worn out lands of Charles, st. Mary's
and Calvert, that have literally pinned
away in the madhouses of tobacco riot
may not be the garden spot of the
peach and the generous producer Of
wheat aad corn at paying pricesH We
think that the part of wisdom would
be served by turning attention to the
lands of Southern Maryland which
nature has done 80 much to bless and
MON hos triad so n,oAlv IN oursa "